× For the latest information on trail and area closures, click here.
  • Visit
  • Cistern
  • Events & Tours
  • Support
  • Donate
  • Plans & Programs
  • About Us
  • Public Art
  • Rentals & Permits
  • Calendar
Menu
donate trail map
Buffalo Bayou Partnership
  • Visit
    • Buffalo Bayou Park
    • Cistern
    • Sabine Promenade
    • Sesquicentennial Park
    • Allen’s Landing
    • Buffalo Bend Nature Park
    • Public Art along Buffalo Bayou
  • Events & Tours
    • Calendar
    • Cistern Tours
    • Boat Tours
    • Walking Tours
    • Underground Sounds
    • Cocktails in Bloom
  • Rentals & Permits
    • Sunset Coffee Building
    • The Water Works in Buffalo Bayou Park
    • Eleanor Tinsley Park
    • Barbara Fish Daniel Picnic Pavilion
    • Permits
  • Support
    • Join as a Member
    • Become a BBP Patron
    • Volunteer with Buffalo Bayou Partnership
    • Donate
    • The Currents
    • Buffalo Bayou Boutique
  • Plans & Programs
    • Buffalo Bayou East
    • “Deeper Dive” Virtual Presentation Series
  • About Us
  • News
    • Press
    • Newsletters

Other Nations: A Naturalist’s Blog about Buffalo Bayou
by Alisa Kline

Sep 11

Am I alone in hating September?

Chaucer was wrong. April is not the cruelest month. September is. In September, the unbearable heat promises to recede. But that promise won’t be kept for at least another month. So close, and still so stinking  hot. I should be outside reveling in the glories of the natural world, damn the heat. But that would… Read more »

Sep 03

The Birds and the Bees (or Ladybugs)

Below is a video of two ladybugs doing what ladybugs do. I stumbled on this pair because the hamelia in the small nature preserve I manage is thick with aphids.  Were I a gardener in search of a landscape that maximizes visual impact so as to demonstrate my utter control of “nature,” this would be… Read more »

Aug 26

Windy

This post was supposed to be a contemplation on the nature of nature. Then nature decided to aim a hurricane towards the small private nature preserve I manage and the time I should have been writing was spent disassembling various decorative archways and moving future projectiles to safer ground. This morning, we got the good… Read more »

Aug 20

Playing hookey

Let’s blame the pandemic, or the heat. I played hookey down in Galveston on Tuesday and saw four or five things that warrant an entire post exploring them in detail. But I seem to lack the energy. So here are the amazing things with brief description of why they amazed me. Above is an aptly… Read more »

Aug 12

Drama

The world consists of eaters and the eaten, who strive mightily not to live out that destiny.  From the smallest creature to the largest, the dumbest to our glorious selves, lives are organized around eating (for carnivores that’s killing), avoiding carnivores bigger than ourselves, and sex. Since we’re primates, throw in status and you have… Read more »

Aug 06

Mental health day

Galveston Island State Park was the balm my soul needed. Not nature in little pockets; not hooray, I stumbled on something; NATURE, glorious, free, exuberant nature. I needed to be surrounded by wildness, dipped into it and rolled around until the stench of indoors had completely washed away. Mission accomplished. I spent over an hour with… Read more »

Jul 29

Ouch!

A mandolin is a wonderful kitchen tool. It is a hand-operated, razor-sharp blade that can make quick work of slicing cucumbers for pickling. However, if you are too fond of cooking shows and like to emulate the techniques you learn from them, you might throw caution to the wind and slice up said cucumbers without… Read more »

Jul 22

Drinking. So very much drinking.

Honey bees collect water. They don’t consume it. They convey it. The hive needs water to thin honey and manipulate pollen. But perhaps the most important, they need water for the evaporative cooling that keeps the hive at an acceptable temperature during our long Houston summers. There are bees who specialize in nothing but water collecting…. Read more »

Jul 16

In which your blogger admits to great stupidity

Anyone who spends time with this blog will know that there is a special place in my heart for native bees. So when one of these ladies worked her way onto the screened porch area of this small private nature preserve, I knew I had to save her. I had in my hand a dish… Read more »

Jul 08

Sometimes, seeing more just means more questions

The closer you look at something, the more questions you develop. And I have a new lens that lets us look very closely indeed. For example, the photo at the top of this post. It is a butterfly known as a gulf fritillary. It is one of the more common butterflies in Houston, but that… Read more »

  • ←
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • …
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • →

“[Animals] are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”

—Henry Beston, The Outermost House

 

For sightings, questions or comments email blog@alisakline.com.

Blog Categories

  • Bats
  • Beavers
  • Birds
  • Buffalo Bayou Birds
  • Fish
  • Flora
  • Galveston
  • Houston Naturama
  • Hurricane Harvey
  • Insects
  • Reptiles

Blog Tags

Beavers in Houston bee bees bees in houston Birding Bird Watching Buffalo Bayou Houston Buffalo Bayou Park Buffalo Bayou Wildlife butterflies butterfly carpenter bee Cliff Swallows Cormorants Dragonfly european honey bee European Starlings Green Tree Nature Trail Herons honeybee Houston Houston Animals Houston Beavers Houston Birds Houston butterfly Houston flora Houston flowers Houston green space Houston insects Houston Parks Houston Wildlife Master Naturalist Native Birds Other Nations Blog pollinators Starlings texas bees Texas Birds Texas flora Texas Master Naturalist Texas Parks Texas reptiles Urban beavers Wildlife blog wildlife houston

Get Involved

There are plenty of ways to get involved with keeping our parks and trails growing and the bayou flowing! Check out our Volunteer Opportunities or become a Buffalo Bayou Partnership Member today.

Membership Volunteer

Stay Connected

Buffalo Bayou Boutique

Looking for a unique gift? Shop our Buffalo Bayou Boutique!
Shop Now
  • Home
  • Visit
  • Support
  • Plans & Programs
  • About Us
  • News

1019 Commerce Street, Suite 200
Houston, TX 77002

t : 713.752.0314    f : 713.223.3500
info@buffalobayou.org

© 2022 Buffalo Bayou Partnership.
website by CORE Design Studio. Log in

Back to Top Events & Tours